Baltimore juvenile arrests up more than 20%, including Carver student in violent cutting on campus
BALTIMORE -- La'Ciah is an 11th grader at Carver Vocational-Technical High School in West Baltimore and saw the aftermath of another violent incident at the school yesterday.
"I just saw the blood on the ground. I'm like, 'Oh my God," she told WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren.
A school spokesperson confirms a student was arrested after cutting another student with a sharp object but was unable to provide information about the charges and age of the student. An adult who intervened was also injured, and the school went into lockdown.
"They need security or something and to check the bags good enough because the incident, that's unacceptable. They're not doing their job," the 11th grader said.
There have been multiple troubling incidents at Carver. They include two guns found on campus last December and January.
One of the guns was loaded and being carried by a 15-year-old student.
A 14-year-old girl was shot just steps from campus in September.
In October, two 15-year-olds and a 16-year-old were shot.
In that incident, the state's attorney charged the parents of one of the 15-year-olds, saying they drove him to the school armed and beat up another teenager before their son opened fire. One of those he shot fired back.
Mayor Brandon Scott weighed in from City Hall Wednesday.
"When we're talking about these actions that are happening inside schools, we cannot dance around this and not talk about accountability, especially with parents about what is going on with their children at this school," the mayor said. "We've had a child be driven by his parents to shoot somebody. We have to have parents understanding and knowing what is going on with their young people. If we find out that more parents are helping their young people with acts of violence, then we are going to hold them accountable the same way we held the other ones."
WJZ obtained the latest juvenile crime numbers from Baltimore police.
They show overall juvenile arrests are up 24 percent over the past year with 482 young people taken into custody in Baltimore City.
One of the biggest increases is for stolen cars where juvenile arrests are up 152 percent, but arrests for weapons are down 15 percent and for aggravated assault are down 21 percent.
"It doesn't matter where it happens, we're going to be supporting the school system and seeing what they need," Mayor Scott said.
La'Ciah just wants peace for the rest of the school year.
"Do you think things are going to get better?" Hellgren asked her. "When they want it to," she said. "It gets better and then it goes back how it was. …Carver is not a bad school, it's just the kids they come here and act a fool."
Students WJZ spoke with Tuesday expressed frustration with the violence.